Pacers rookie guard Chris Duarte has been selected to participate in the 2022 Clorox Rising Stars, which will be played at NBA All-Star 2022 in Cleveland on Friday, Feb. 18. Duarte was one of 12 first-year players selected by the league's coaches to participate in Rising Stars.
Duarte, selected by the Pacers with the 13th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, is having an outstanding rookie season. The 24-year-old has started 32 of 44 games and is averaging 13.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 43.2 percent from the floor and 34.9 percent from 3-point range. Entering Tuesday's games, Duarte ranks sixth among all rookies in scoring, is second in 3-pointers made (75), and third in total steals (49).
Duarte has scored in double figures in 32 games this season, surpassing 20 points four times. He set a franchise record for points in a rookie's debut game when he tallied 27 in the season opener in Charlotte on Oct. 20. He also had 27 points in an overtime win at Golden State on Jan. 20.
With his selection, Duarte becomes the ninth Pacer to be selected to Rising Stars, an event that has existed in some form at All-Star Weekend since 1994. Previous players to participate in Rising Stars include Antonio Davis (1994), Erick Dampier (1997), Jamaal Tinsley (2002 and 2003), Danny Granger (2006 and 2007), Sarunas Jasikevicius (2006), Paul George (2012), Myles Turner (2017), and Domantas Sabonis (2018).
The NBA will be introducing a new format for Rising Stars this season. 12 rookies and 12 second-year players were named to the Rising Stars player pool on Tuesday along with four players from the NBA G League Ignite, a team dedicated to developing top prospects in preparation for the NBA Draft. Those 28 players will be drafted into four seven-player teams for the Rising Stars competition.
The four teams will compete in a mini-tournament on Feb. 18 in Cleveland, with two semifinal games played to a final target score of 50 points. The two winning teams will then advance to a final game with a final target score of 25 points. The winning team will ultimately reach 75 total points in honor of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Season.
There will also be a timed shooting competition before the final Rising Stars game called the Clorox Clutch Challenge, which will feature eight NBA and NBA G League Ignite players divided into four teams of two and competing to make shots from five locations on the court tied to iconic shots made in the NBA Playoffs.